Bicycle barhop tour just for fun

An estimated 80 riders participated in Saturday night’s Tour de Merrill, up from the 60 that took park in the bicycle barhopping event last year. Riders could hit some or all of the 15 Merrill taverns on the tour.

The Tour de Merrill started about 10 years ago, at first coinciding with the Tomahawk Fall Ride motorcycle rally.

According to Travis Barker, who now organizes the event, it’s all for fun. Riders are encouraged to dress up their bikes and themselves; this year’s theme was the ‘80s.

“When we started out, people had old bikes and they did goofy things to them like getting a little kid’s carrier and putting a doll in it, or they put streamers on it – just random things, it’s all for fun,” he said. A suggested theme for each ride was introduced a couple of years ago.